1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage devices for strung rackets such as tennis rackets, especially to means for hanging them vertically in a garment storage space.
2. The Prior Art
Tennis and other rackets having strung faces within a generally oval frame have generally been carefully pressed in wooden and other encasing devices for preventing them from warping, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,437,378 and 2,168,119. When such rackets are to be stored, storage racks have been provided as in U.S. Pat. No. 415,342 having press bars therein. A combined storage and carrying case and press is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,027,786. New materials such as aluminum, steel, and other metals and composition materials such as fiberglass and carbon fibers have recently come to be employed in tennis rackets in place of laminated wood framing, dispensing with the need for wooden or other presses for clamping the racket frame into a flat position between uses. Such rackets are commonly stored simply in weather-protective canvas and similar bags.
No convenient means of storing such rackets has, to the inventor's knowledge, ever appeared. Rackets are laid flat on a shelf, propped against a wall, hung over a nail or other small hook driven into a closet wall or other sporting goods storage area of the home. Although storage by hanging in a closet on the closet rod would appear to be a simple and straight forward expedient, no suitable device appears to have been developed or made commercially available. Conventional garment hangers and accessory clips, as in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,211,998, 2,675,148, 2,898,024, and 3,455,491 are generally not adaptable for use with articles other than clothing.